Fiat 500

Fiat’s diminutive 500 remains as cute as ever—it’s also the cheapest Italian car currently on the market. With a puny, 101-hp four-cylinder, it’s also one of the slowest cars available, too. Fortunately, a 135-hp turbo model is offered, with livelier performance both in a straight line and in turns, thanks to suspension bits from the racy Abarth (reviewed separately). Style-minded buyers may find either the sliding-softtop Cabrio or some of the many special-edition models worth a look, too. First Drive Review – 2014 Fiat 500 1957 Edition

2014 Fiat 500 1957 Edition

Retro mobility for your retro-hipster cosplay party.

Good news for those who like to arrive fashionably late to parties: The 1957 Edition of the Fiat 500 survives for the 2015 model year. Introduced for 2014 to commemorate, oddly enough as it was, the 57th anniversary of the model that inspired its design, the commemoration carries on into year 58 because, well, Italians and clocks, right?

With fellow Fiat-Chrysler divisions Maserati and Dodge celebrating centennials and Fiat’s own centennial in 1999 long behind it, perhaps Fiat didn’t want to feel left out. Whatever the cause, it was already playing fast and loose when it dreamed up the 1957 as a way to add yet another special-edition 500. When you’re playing the fashion card, as exemplified by BMW’s Mini brand, you need to take advantage of every opportunity. Aside from the stylish array of interior and exterior colors—your choice of Celeste (pastel blue), Verde Chiaro (light green), or Bianco (white)—1957-style Fiat badges replacing the modern ones, and 16-inch painted aluminum wheels designed to look as old school as a black-and-white Audrey Hepburn flick on TCM, there’s not much else that changes from the regular Cinquecento.

Harking Back to a More Pastel Time

The tiny, quasi-original 21st-century Fiat character car traces its styling inspiration to 1957, when Fiat rolled out the original 500. It was then called the Nuova (“New”) 500 to distinguish it from the 1936–55 Topolino. In the U.S., a ’57 reference pretty much gets you a Chevy—the befinned conclusion to the tri-five run of family cars that made the small-block V-8 famous. It might show up in, say, turquoise or coral occupied by some baby-boomer retiree who still refers to herself as a “gal” wearing a poodle skirt. That ’57 Chevy driver’s millennial cohort, en route to the vintage clothing shop or the retro furniture store, might want the reliability and fuel economy of a spanking-new, baby-blue Fiat.

What she’ll find at the Fiat store, for a little more jingle than the base price on the more powerful 500 Turbo, is basically the 500 in Lounge trim, except that in the 1957 Edition the leather package is standard. The dashboard is rendered in ivory and gray and contrasts nicely with the brown leather and its prominent ivory-colored stitching. The details are very modern, with plenty of digital electronic displays and such, but rendered in retro style (for instance, the round “dials” flanking the radio-tuner face are actually buttons arrayed to look like dials). And that white roof? The Mini is the obvious touchstone. Those who’ve seen the 1969 movie The Italian Job will remember that although Mini was the star, the Fiat 500s were ubiquitous throughout. As in the modern car market, Mini is the star that shows the way, but Fiat can cash in on retro, too.

Still, despite the strong fashion cues, the 1957 Edition drives like any other Fiat 500. It’s roughly a 10-seconds-to-60-mph car, like our long-term 2012 Fiat Sport example. This particular car had the six-speed automatic transmission, so it was less engaging to drive than the five-speed manual version of the 1957 Edition that starts at $21,250, $1900 more than a 500 Lounge. With its standard sport-tuned suspension, the 1957 Edition is certainly nimbler and more entertaining to pilot than Fiat’s other car, the newer 500L crossover, a bloated, Serbian-built bus wearing the number and face but with none of the charm. Nevertheless, we really like saying “Cinquecento.”

*AccuPayment estimates payments under various scenarios for budgeting and informational purposes only. AccuPayment does not state credit or lease terms that are available from a creditor or lessor, and AccuPayment is not an offer or promotion of a credit or lease transaction.